Shards of Winter
by witchfingers
Summary: Alone. Touya wondered aimlessly. His life lacked a direction, and a purpose. He went wherever the wind took him. Alone. Until, he met the wind himself... [Non yaoi]


_Disclaimer: I don't own Yuu Yuu Hakusho. I hope I did, but, sadly, I don't._

_Touya and Jin are my two favorite characters of YYH (and Hiei and Youko); and I think their friendship is one of the most beautiful in the anime and manga I have ever watched/read (also Jakotsu and Bankotsu). I have read many versions of how this two got to know each other, so I guess I decided to create my own..._

* * *

_-Running in a crowd in a faceless town I need to feel the touch of a friend. __  
In the country side I wander far and wide, the isolation gets me again.-_

_The room._

A vaguely illuminated chamber- if it could be called so, filth and dust accumulated during the years, or centuries perhaps. The curtains were long gone; the windows, dirty and brownish; the old windowpanes, cracked. The door semi open, as it couldn't close well due to the moisture in the air. The walls had the characteristic greenish-yellowish marks of the humidity.

_The person._

A young man, sitting on a shabby chair. His hood was off, revealing rebel strands of a hair that was as green as the Sea, and as blue as the sky. The man's head was lowered, his icy blue eyes looking out of the window with a lost gaze. His back was arched, his hands entwined and resting on his knees, without calm and without worry. He was thinking, thinking of the freedom he longed to have. A freedom he had, but didn't know how to show. He was tired of being so alone.

So alone.

So alone.

So alone.

_Alone._

The fatal word: alone.

_/I don't want to be alone... / He always thought._

I don't want to be alone.

Yes, he knew that. He had always known that. And the mere thought of it could claim a whole night's sleep.

Winter was overwhelming. That was what he was seeing through the window.

A single, lonely snowflake fell at a snail's pace until it finally landed on the wooden windowsill. He stood up, his hands in his pockets. It was his time to leave.

He hovered lightly over the floor, the tip of his scarf dragging because it was too long.

He looked back at the uncared for building he was leaving behind. He had no pleasant memories there, he was not going to miss the place he had called home for some time.

He was a drifter.

The apartment buildings became houses, and the houses became a lonely road covered with snow. The wheat grew golden far in the distance and the sky, was of a clear blue.

And he was alone.

/_I miss feeling loved. I feel so empty..._ /

He walked calmly and sat on a branch of a nearby tree, from where he could have a complete view of the whole landscape before him, the path, the fields. The people; if there was any. The wintry wind, his company, blew strands of his marine hair from his face.

/_Now, where can I go? I have traveled with the wind, it has guided me. _I go where the winter takes me_... but still, I'm alone. So alone... _/

_-I don't where to go, when I feel like crying! Oh my! -_

He jumped from the branch to the floor with ease. It was his time to realize that perhaps, and just perhaps, he was the one who needed to change. But he was alone.

The fatal word.

Alone.

/_Alone. Alone- I don't have to be alone._/

White petals of the wintry flower up in the sky covered the ground with a veil of sugary dust.

/_I would like to be a snowflake_ /- he thought- / _In that way, I wouldn't be alone_./ So very alone...

_Alone Alone Alone _dancing petals of white and pale cerulean danced and sang, and the song floated in the air. _Alone Alone Alone_

As he walked the snowflakes combined in different ways to form whirlwinds, and he was surrounded by a milky song of winter_. /Which direction now/_

Aimlessly, he almost floated over the ground, leaving no footprints, and, lost in his thoughts, he went as usual, wherever the wind took him. He looked up from the ground, and saw the road.

_The hope, the hope._

And for a change, he walked to the road, and placed his feet on the ground.

And for a change, he smiled, and began walking.

_-It's time to open myself, do something new, I want to STOP! And grow up a bit...-_

/I don't need to listen to you now.../ He said to the snowflakes. And suddenly, he didn't hear anymore his concealed secret of lonely_ Alone. _The song he heard was a brighter melody of _Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps.._

_The hope, the hope._

_-Then suddenly my power and confidence start swelling up, magically erupt. -_

He felt his back hit the ground and his long scarf tangle in the sweet sugary petals scattered on the floor. The cold cooled his cheeks. /Ow/ He didn't expect a response to that.

/Sorry, my bad./. That was new.

/I should have been paying attention./ He found himself saying, sounding a little shy to the new stranger.

_/Are you alone in the cold/_

_Alone._

_The fatal word:_

_Alone._

He looked away. Yes, he was. /Yes.../. He didn't mind the cold.

But he was alone.

The stranger held a hand out, helping him up.

He stared into the other person's eyes. As blue as the sky, as bright as the summer, as light as the wind. The wind, which seemed to surge from within him, and played with his fiery red hair- as red as the fire itself.

The stranger smiled warmly, and suddenly, he understood that, perhaps, and just perhaps, he wouldn't have to be so alone...

_-And it's all because of the kindness that I feel from people I don't know...! _

_Then suddenly my intuition and my wisdom grow and then I know...-_

/Where are ya going/

He meditated the answer to the stranger's question. He was going nowhere. Neither had he a direction nor did he want one.

/Nowhere./ That was his answer. Why? Because he didn't have a reason to go anywhere. Because he was alone.

The fatal word: alone.

/Nowhere? That ain't a funny place to go. I'm going nowhere, too- what about going together/

_-But most of all I sense compassion wield into strangers wherever I go! -_

He was shocked, surprised, happy. The flowery winter had spread its soft perfume of hot chocolate and logs burning in a fireplace, ever so swiftly, and it had filled the air. He barely nodded- /Where are we going/ he asked, and he was surprised to hear:

/Wherever the wind takes us/

He smiled. He felt he was going to get on very, very well with this friendly stranger, who out of the blue said:

/My name's Jin... you're---/

_/Touya./_

The wind carried away the art pieces of the winter.

_-Thank you for waking me up!-_

* * *

_**Umi: **What did you think of this one? Did you like it? . The lyrics that run along the fic are (I think) the translated version of Hohoemi no Bakudan (YYH's first opening). Please, review...! I've only got 2 :(.. and not for this fic. I'm trying my best, but there must be sth I'm not doing well --..._


End file.
